


Pity

by Diary



Category: Lady Jane (1986)
Genre: Bechdel Test Fail, Gen, Introspection, Male-Female Friendship, POV Edward VI of England, POV Male Character, Self-Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-31 11:24:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6468316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Repost. Edward's thoughts on Jane. Complete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pity

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Lady Jane or The Tudors.

Often, he feels pity for her.

She’s a scholar trapped by her own sex, just as her mother is a politician trapped by her own sex. Her mother takes her frustration and schemes out on her, and she might well end up doing the same to her own daughters one day.

He dances with her due to knowing it will please her parents and listens in pride as she speaks Latin more precisely than he and presents Greek poetry finer than he can write. She purposely stumbles over certain words and inserts small grammatical errors, but one only has to listen to her when he’s not around and see the poetry never to grace his eyes to know she is smarter and more creative than he.

They discuss religion, and later, he hears whispers of Anne Boleyn and Askew with people wondering if finally, someone will triumph over Mary; after all, Catalina died, first, but she died an honourable woman, not a criminal, and few have assurance Elizabeth, quiet in her true faith, will ever explicitly go against Mary. Even against him, Mary has yet to lose, and in this matter of urgency, yet to lose is dangerously close to outright winning.

Mary keeps trying to tempt her, and she keeps refusing. Perhaps, they whisper, we have found true hope, at last.

He finds it bitterly ironic; the boy his father was desperate for has arrived, and yet, the Reformist movement cries for a woman, even a girl-child, to lead the way. They silently cry for her, and yet, the very world she lives in won’t allow her to take up the mantle of scholarly warrior. 

Often, he feels pity for himself and his father.

Beyond pity, though, he isn’t sure what to feel towards his cousin.

She’s admirable, certainly.

Yet, she is ambiguous in her feelings towards him, and this is an exceedingly dangerous thing.

It’s not the fact she pretends and flatters him; everyone does. He learned at a young age to look for the signs to see how those who swore their love and life to him truly felt about said vows and the person they were directed towards. Most people desperately want him to be a great King, strong and passionate, like his father but without the overabundance of pride and the rashness leading to dangerous impulsiveness. They want him to marry one woman and have a heap of sons.

He’s intelligent and calm, but he’s not physically strong like other men are and capable of playing sports without fear of serious injury. He’s heard whispers of his personality being the product of a cold heart and whispers arguing he has his mother’s too-soft, delicate heart. Either way, people would happier if, perhaps, he occasionally threw a fit as he did when he was younger or, perhaps, caused some minor scandal.

Jane smiles shyly whenever he sees her and often looks a mixture of sad and grateful for his presence. She talks passionately and sometimes sharply to him about the religious reforms. She doesn’t care for dancing but doesn’t seem to hate it when they dance together, perhaps, due to knowing it will please her parents.

He’d consider her indifferent most of the time and wishing her King the best without particularly caring for the boy with the title and grateful for the times he’s kind enough to help give her a bit of peace from her parents and their enormous, ever persistent expectations.

He’d consider her this if she hadn’t once confessed a potentially dangerous secret to him and asked him to swear to keep it.

Once, they had sat by the river with his guards and chaperones nearby. They were close enough to see but not hear quiet words. She believed her mother had found a husband for her, and she feared for her soul. She swore on her eternal soul she’d never let another impurely touch her, but somehow, a boy had found himself in her heart and brain. She wanted to marry him, but she knew the chances of it were more than slim.

As much as he’d tried, he couldn’t extract a name from her, and after giving his promise to keep her secret, he couldn’t in good conscience order it from her.

He remembers Culpepper when he thinks of the conversation, and he prays to God she never gives into the passion as his second stepmother did. Poor Kitty Kat, he sometimes thinks, and wishes he hadn’t been so impatient when she’d tried to interest him in wooden toys.

Sometimes, last at night, his cousin visits him in his dreams. In it, she is wearing the crown of his father with a faceless man standing behind her; intuitively, he knows this faceless man is her Culpepper. In these dreams, despite how tall she stands and despite the book in her hand and the crown on her head, she looks scared and pleading with heartbreak and anger across her face.

He tells no one of the dreams, continues to show polite interest in her, and never inquires about her secret love.

Often, he feels pity for her.


End file.
